San Diego's First IPO of 2009, New Institute Plans to Transform Healthcare, Making Waves at Water Parks, & More San Diego Biz/Tech News

We saw several San Diego innovators making waves last week. Bridgepoint Education defied the recession by going public, Sapphire Energy upped its production estimates due to a technological breakthrough, and a wave war erupted among San Diego’s wave makers. So this is how things looked during the week:

—San Diego’s Sapphire Energy, which is building a production facility for its algae-to-biofuel technology near Las Cruces, NM, doubled its production estimates for 2011. Sapphire now says it will produce a million gallons of “green crude” in two years, and a billion gallons by 2025. The startup company backed by Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment has participated in successful test flights in recent months that substituted jet fuel made from Sapphire’s “green crude” for conventional jet fuel.

—Bruce caught up with EasyTaxFix co-founder Adam Berkson, whose online company helps homeowners lower their property taxes by automating the appeal process. Berkson told Bruce they were successful enough in San Diego in November to expand into other California counties, New Jersey, and the Phoenix, AZ, metro area.